‘I was a kid in a GM household, I thought it was going to survive’: Oshawa-area MPs in disbelief at GM’s looming closure

By Beatrice Paez Dec. 3, 2018

While today’s plant is a 'small image of its former self,' Conservative MP Erin O'Toole, who once worked at GM and whose father worked there for 30 years, said he expected the plant to survive. Conservative MP Colin Carrie, who also worked summers at GM, represents Oshawa, and Liberal MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes, who represents Whitby, talk about the aftershocks of 2,600 people losing their jobs in the region.

Conservative MP Colin Carrie, who represents Oshawa, Ont., tweeted this photo of himself in a scrum across the street from the GM plant in his riding last Monday. Mr. Carrie himself worked at the plant in the 1980s to help pay university. Photograph courtesy of Twitter

General Motors’ decision last week to halt operations in Oshawa, Ont., within the next year sent shockwaves throughout the community, with the move deeply felt by two area MPs who once worked for the auto giant.

The Liberals will be under attack from all sides in the next election campaign, but Liberals say they have a good story to tell and some say they need to sharpen up their communications strategy before it's too late.